Centrifugal blower assemblies are commonly used in the automotive, air handling, and ventilation industries for directing a forced flow of air through air conditioning components. In a typical blower assembly, air is caused to flow into a housing through an inlet aperture formed therein. The blower assemblies typically include an electrically driven blower wheel that rotates in a predetermined direction in the housing. The blower wheel includes one or more curved blades, which cause the air to flow into an inlet of the blower wheel axially along an axis of rotation and discharge the air radially outwardly therefrom into an air duct formed in the housing.
Blower assemblies in automotive applications have been fitted with pre-swirlers to cause a rotation or swirling of air entering the blower assembly. The pre-swirlers cause the air to enter the blower wheel of the blower assembly at a preferred angle. If the air is not rotated sufficiently, an increase in drag, noise, vibration, and a loss of efficiency of the blower assembly can occur. Accordingly, if the air is pre-rotated and enters the blades of the impeller with a desired amount of rotation, the efficiency of the blower assembly can be maximized.
It would be desirable to produce a blower assembly including a pre-swirler configured to cooperate with a blower wheel of the blower assembly to minimize a noise, a vibration, and a harshness (NVH) of the blower assembly, while maximizing an efficiency thereof.